A Post Mission Drink
by Sanctitatem
Summary: After arriving back from a mission in Cornwall to help a colony of Cornish Pixies, Helen spends the evening with Nikola and a bottle of wine. Helen laughs; Nikola pouts. Hints of Teslen at the end.


Taking off her boots with a groan, Helen sat back on the couch in the semi-privacy of her drawing room. It had been three long days, in Cornwall with Henry and Declan, but now she was back in her home that she had worked so hard on. Back and relaxing – until the next emergency came up. On that note, she couldn't help but ponder on how long she would have this silence all to herself. It was a rare occasion when she had herself to herself for more than a few minutes. Not unless everyone was asleep. Even then there were always the phones, and these days the internet, through which she could be contacted.

Her internal question was answered rather quickly when, not more than two minutes later, there was a sharp rap on the door and then the door opened to reveal Nikola Tesla. He was smirking to himself over some thought he'd just had and was carrying not one but two bottles of wine. Bottles, Helen noted, that came from her own stores. Raising an eyebrow, she commented, with some sarcasm, "Yes, Nikola, do come in." Sitting up a little straighter, she made sure her clothes were in order before turning her attention to one of her oldest friends.

"Now, now, Helen. I come bearing gifts," Nikola said with a smile as he set the bottles down on the coffee table before them along with two glasses, and a corkscrew he seemed to have procured out of thin air.

"Gifts from _my_ wine cellar," she countered but her words offered no ill will. Truth be told, she was rather glad for the wine and that she hadn't had to retrieve it herself. With how tired she felt, Helen doubted that it would take much wine to start getting her tipsy that evening. "At least tell me that you didn't go through the entirety of my wine cellar while I was gone?"

"Even _I_ could not drink your entire stock of wine in three days, Helen," Nikola replied as he opened one bottle and poured them each a glass. "So," he said as he sat down next to her. "How did the mission go? Was my invention a success? Heinrich assured me he knew what he was doing. I would have gone, you know, but ..."

"But, I needed you and your expertise here, Nikola," Helen interrupted after taking her first sip of wine. "You invented it so you were the best person to be here in case anything went wrong from this end. Henry coped marvellously and it all went pretty much to plan." They had been in Cornwall to help a colony of Cornish Pixies. "The Pixies were very happy for our assistance. Their environment couldn't have survived for much longer without your machine to stabilise it. This way they are kept hidden and safe from humans."

"Pfft," Nikola snorted, "humans wouldn't know a Pixie even if it came up and danced in front of their eyes.

"Pixies may not be the docile, little, mischievous creatures that folklore has been trying to tell us but even human beings would be able to tell that it was not something they were used to having living in the same area as them. They'd get scared and you know what ignorant, scared people do, Nikola." Taking another sip, Helen continued while Nikola was silently berating human's so called humanity. "Pixies really are fascinating, you know. They live in an entirely separate sub climate to the rest of Cornwall. Hidden in the hills. If it hadn't been that they had approached my father over a century ago then we might never even know that they were anything more than a myth." She took another sip and without knowing it she was down to half a glass. "Henry installed your machine and connected it up to the water supply so that it could run on hydroelectric power, just as you suggested. The tremors they had been experiencing stopped within a couple of hours. It was quite the success."

"Of course it was a success. Since when did I invent something that wasn't?" Nikola said with a bright grin now that he knew it had worked. "You know, I've been thinking – it really should have a name. I realise no one outside of this network of yours will hear about it but still, we can't keep calling it the machine or environment machine. It needs something with style. Something that is a reflection of the genius who designed it."

Helen laughed and reached over to refill her glass – refilling Nikola's at the same time. "A name that reflects you? Don't let anyone else know that's what you want. You might regret the suggestions." Her laughter quietened some at his expression and so she decided to pander to him, a little. "Alright. Do you have any ideas? As long as you don't try to incorporate light into the name. It was a good thing that we have the pod system now or it would have been a nightmare to transport."

Nikola held his glass in one hand and gesticulated with the other. "It has a complicated job to do. That sort of work doesn't happen with something the size of a cell phone, Helen. That and you didn't exactly give me a lot of time. I figured it was more about it getting the job done than aesthetics right now." With a small pout, he went back to thinking about names. "I don't know if I should tell you now. If you're going to be like that about it."

"Oh, come on, Nikola," Helen said – grinning in a way she hadn't done in some time. Like she couldn't do with most of the people closest to her. There was something about going through what she and Nikola had been through, that made them as close as family. So, Nikola was one of a handful of people where Helen actually felt she could be herself. "You could name it after Henry," she said sincerely, even though there was humour laced in her voice. "After all, you could have blown up my lab if it hadn't been for him."

"Blown up is such an over exaggeration," Nikola tried to gloss over the situation. "Blame Praxis, if you're going to blame anyone. It's their fault they had the wires in illogical places."

"So, nothing to do with the great Nikola Tesla making a small mistake with the placement of another unit within the pre-existing system?" Helen said, almost giggling into her, now twice refilled, glass.

Nikola pursed his lips for a moment as he tried to find a way out that didn't make it sound like Henry had saved him from making a grave error. "I'm glad you're finding this so hilarious," he said before he admitted. "Perhaps Heinrich deserves some credit. He's not all that bad."

Just as Nikola was in the middle of speaking, Henry rushed through the door with a pad in one hand – oblivious to the fact that Helen was half way through her third glass and giggling like a school girl, or that Nikola was there until he heard his words.

"Hey, Doc? I got that system's analysis for …" He trailed off as he stared at the two of them, a grin slowly spreading on his face. "What was that? Were you complimenting me? 'Cause I did save your life, you know."

"Oh barely," Nikola refuted with a small scowl, batting Henry away before moving to open the second bottle of wine. "It's doubtful the explosion would have been that big. I've survived worse and I would have spotted it before it got to that point."

"Yeah, yeah. Just remember who saw it first, okay?" Henry said as he walked towards the couch and saw the now empty first bottle of wine and how Helen was struggling to contain the effect that the alcohol and exhaustion (plus lack of food) were having. "You know, maybe this can just wait till tomorrow. I need to go call Erika, anyway," he said as he backed away – not wanting to know what he'd managed to walk in on and knowing he should just leave them to it.

"Go do that," Nikola instructed, the small pout of embarrassment still apparent on his face and it was clear that Helen was finding it hard not to just burst out laughing at him.

"Okay, have a good night," Henry said, still clutching the pad and planning to drop it into Helen's office for the morning. Walking through the door, he had only just managed to close it behind him when Helen started to laugh. Almost doubling over where she sat, it was a good thing her glass was now empty. She had drunk it while observing the interaction between the two men and so now there was none to spill as hysteria seemed to overwhelm her and giggles erupted forth.

Taking her glass from her, Nikola filled it from the newly opened bottle but didn't hand it back to her straight away. "Thank you for knocking a man while he's down. Perhaps you've had too much to drink."

"Oi," Helen said with a carefree grin on her face as the giggles subsided enough for her to speak. "Ever thought that your ego might be the problem here if it can be deflated by such a little thing as having someone help you? It was your face that was so entertaining. Talk about timing!"

"Yes, yes. Okay. Enough about Henry and that … incident. There still should be a name."

That just made Helen start laughing again. "What is it with you men and naming things? Next you'll be insisting it's female." She reached out to take the glass from Nikola and attempted to give him a stern look when he almost objected to letting her have it. Sitting back once more, she looked more relaxed than she had done in a long time and had to hide a small yawn that threatened to leave her. "Alright, a name," she said in thought as Nikola sat back and thought as well. "How about … Hydroelectric, Environment Neutralising, Radio-wave Invertor?" Helen suggested all too innocently.

Nikola gave her a look as he sighed at her humour. "You've just spelt Henry in French."

Helen looked all too pleased with herself as she lifted her glass to her lips. "Yes, but primarily it describes your machine."

"That's not why you put those words in that order and you know it, Helen," Nikola scolded as he shook his head. "I'll come up with name another time and I will _not_ be naming it after Heinrich." A grin started to slowly grow on his face a moment later. "Bet you can't think of how to make Heinrich an acronym for my machine."

Scrunching up her nose, Helen elbowed Nikola playfully. "Maybe another time when I haven't had quite so much to drink. Was this your ploy? To get me drunk? Nikola, I am surprised." Her grin said otherwise.

"Actually, I wasn't intending for you to drink quite as much as you have done. Especially in such a short space of time. That being said it is quite refreshing to see you so relaxed. Maybe I should come round more often."

"Is that a threat?" Helen asked with a gleam in her eyes although her expression on the whole had softened.

"It could be a promise. Now that you've got all these fabulous labs and equipment. I could make quite good use out of them," Nikola answered, unable to say outright that he wouldn't mind seeing Helen more often.

Putting her glass down, Helen moved a little closer to press a short kiss to her friend's cheek before resting her head on his shoulder. "You can be an arrogant arse at times, Nikola. But I wouldn't mind having you around some more. In fact I'd rather like it." She let out a giggle. "I can't say the same for Will, though."

"Huggybear would just have to grin and bear it," he said with a smirk, enjoying the closeness of having Helen leant against him. Turning his head, he caught the smell of her shampoo from her hair and bent his head down to kiss the top of her head. "It's just you and me now, Helen," he observed. "Or at least as far as we know. Maybe we should have that mean something to us. Stop taking each other for granted. Not go decades without seeing each other again. I have to say, though, playing dead is not my favourite past time. In fact, I wouldn't recommend …"

He trailed off as he looked down and realised Helen had fallen asleep. Having closed her eyes around the time Nikola had kissed her hair, Helen had soon fallen to sleep – the alcohol and mission having seen to most of the ease to which she fell asleep. The rest of it was very much to do with the company she had that evening. That she was not alone. A fact she had been comforted by.

Smiling at the sight, Nikola drained the rest of his glass – unaffected by the evening's drinking due to him being a vampire – and reached over to put his glass by Helen's. Once both his hands were free, he slowly extricated himself from Helen and helped her sleeping form to lay down on the couch. Placing a cushion under her head and a blanket over her body, Nikola knelt down by Helen and smoothed her hair away from her face.

"Until tomorrow, my Helen," he said softly. Pressing a kiss to her forehead, Nikola stood up and gathered the empty glasses, wine bottles and corkscrew before quietly making his way out of the room. Hoping to find another drinking partner before the night was over even if sleeping Helen would not leave his mind.


End file.
